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Morris Daily Herald
January 24, 2003
By Jo Ann Hustis-Herald Writer
jhustis@morrisdailyherald.com
MINOOKA — The state came up with the Prairie Parkway Corridor solution,
and now is in search of the questions, noted objector Jan Strasma.
“The Illinois Department of Transportation said this is a
transportation needs study, not a beltway study; that they’re starting
with a clean slate, and we have to accept that’s what their attitude
is,” said Strasma during IDOT’s open house here Thursday on the
preliminary engineering study on traffic growth and congestion in a
six-county area, including Grundy County, to 2030.
“However, all their signs say ‘The Prairie Parkway Study.’ So, they may
be having an open mind, but the target still is the Prairie Parkway ,”
he said.
“The fact is, they have recorded a corridor. They have said, ‘This is
where we want to build the road.’”
The new study will examine the traffic needs of the six-county area; it
follows the recent Prairie Parkway Corridor protection study to preserve
a transportation corridor for future use, if it is needed.
The corridor would link Interstate 80 to Interstate 88 in northern
Illinois.
Strasma’s 400-member watchdog group is organized to ensure IDOT does
what it is required by law to do.
“And that’s to look at the needs and all alternatives, not the ones
they think are a good idea, including the existing road system,” he
said.
“Basically, to look over their shoulder, make sure they do the job
right, and that they follow all the requirements of the Environmental
Impact Statement process.”
The group has past success to its credit, having blocked an intermodal
railport in Kane County, a racetrack in Plano, a peaker generating plant
in a cornfield in the Big Rock area and the conducting supercollider
that would have tunneled underneath Kane County.
“We have shown the public can be heard, that the will of the public can
hold sway, and we are going to be heard,” Strasma said.
In the case of the proposed Prairie Parkway , Strasma said IDOT wants
to find the traffic needs and solution in the six-county area.
“Our concern is that if they put an interstate highway in, it will
exacerbate the growth and accelerate it at every interchange —
burgeoning commercial, industrial and residential growth,” he said.
“We realize certain areas are going to grow, but we value farmland and
open space and a rural lifestyle, and we’re going to do whatever we can
to protect that.”
Saying many options exist for transportation, Strasma noted the group
considers a reasonable approach to the solution is to examine what
presently exists.
“Maintain and improve what we have now - most notably Illinois 47,
which is an existing, good road that, in most cases, is a straight and
open highway,” he said.
“If we need more capacity, let’s expand the capacity with what we
currently have - let’s look at the road system and improve it where it
needs to be improved, rather than spend a billion dollars on a whole new
highway.”
Strasma said IDOT plans to expand Illinois 47 through Yorkville to five
lanes.
“So, why build a whole new road and use up more farmland,” he said.
“We’re really concerned about the destruction of farmland.”
Strasma said preservation of farmland - which he said is not a
renewable resource - is a serious problem in the face of rapid growth.
“Once you pave farmland over, it’s gone,” he said. “Once you strip off
the topsoil to put in a subdivision, the farmland’s gone.”
The group is open to new members. The Web site is wwwsprawlway.org, and
the postal address is P. O. Box 334, Big Rock, Ill., 60511.